


Lumiere

by The_Supervillains_Goatee



Category: Southern Vampire Mysteries - Charlaine Harris, True Blood
Genre: Fairies, Minor Character Death, Swearing, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-07
Updated: 2013-12-07
Packaged: 2018-01-03 21:49:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1073448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Supervillains_Goatee/pseuds/The_Supervillains_Goatee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So what did happen to all the Halflings that ate the glow fruit? Sookie made it home safe and sound and never another word was ever spoken of them or her time in the fairy realm. Didn’t anyone ever go looking for them? In the books, Barry Horowitz (aka Barry the Bellboy), became a valuable and important member of the vampire King of Texas’ court. Wouldn’t people have noticed his disappearance?</p><p>Disclaimer: I own nothing, I profit from nothing. Please don't sue me HBO.</p><p>Warning for occasional curse words.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lumiere

               For the hundredth time she broke up with Bill (and Eric), Sookie swore this would definitely be the end of her involvement in “vampire crap”. Really, she had to get out of it. No more hanging around vampires. Even if Tara was a vampire. Tara hated her and their friendship was over with pretty much. So what was she doing driving toward Fangtasia? Oh, yes, a summons from Eric and Pam. Just when it looked like life was getting back to “normal”. Because Eric owned her house and she had to earn it back in “favors” to them. Damn, stupid sell-out Jason. Selling Gran’s house because he thought Sookie was dead. Goddamn thirty year vampire ‘mortgage’. Damn, damn, damn.  

               She parked her car in the “employees only” area of the parking lot and walked past the line of waiting customers to the door. Tara had taken Pam’s place as the bouncer. Sookie opened her mouth to ask her if she was all right, is she doing better, but Tara cut her off with, “They’re waiting for you.” Sookie shrugged and went inside. Eric was at his table with Pam and some other vampires. She recognized one as being from the Dallas nest. The stood up and gestured for to follow them into Eric’s office.

               “You called, I came.” Sookie sat in the chair Pam offered her. “What can I do for you this evening?”

               Eric sipped his most likely _Real Blood_ silently and Pam introduced the newcomers, “You likely remember Isabelle Beaumont, Sookie? The current sheriff of Dallas?” Pam continued in her usual bored tone without waiting for a reply, “She is escorting Paolo on a mission to find a missing friend of his. The King of Texas is very anxious that you assist them on this mission and so we are very anxious you assist them on this mission.”

               “How will I be doing that?”

               “You made his acquaintance in Dallas.” Isabelle replied. “I thought perhaps you know where he disappeared to.”

               Sookie frowned, “An acquaintance from Dallas? One of the vampires from Godric’s nest?” Eric gave a slight twitch at Godric’s name but otherwise said nothing.

               “No, this is not a vampire that is missing. This is a telepath like you.” Isabelle replied.

               “Barry! Barry the bellboy from Hotel Carmilla!”

               Paolo looked excited, “You do know him! You have spoken to him? Where is he? Where did he go?”

               Pam drawled, “He disappeared around the same time you did. His apartment reeked of fairy.”

               Sookie made a face that conveyed she felt like she had bit into a particularly rotten piece of glow-fruit and there worms in it. “He was taken the same time I was.”

               Isabelle and Paolo exchanged looks. “What do you mean? _Taken_?”

               Eric finally spoke, “You are aware of the Lilith, Warlow, fairy debacle we had a few months ago?”

               The Dallas vampires did indeed know of the fairy mess. There wasn’t a vampire in the world who didn’t know about the fairy-Billith mess. So did the entire Supernatural community and a good portion of the human one. All were desperately trying to forget it too!

               Sookie was grim. “I’m sorry. But you’ll likely never see him again alive or dead.”

               “That is not what they want to hear, Sookie.” Pam said sharply.

               “Well, then perhaps I should leave since you don’t want to hear what I going to tell you.” Sookie stood up as if to leave.

               “Sit!” Eric said. Sookie gave him a look. He added, “If you please.”

               Sookie sat. “I’ll tell you about the last time I saw him.” She took a deep breath. “As you are probably aware, I went missing for over a year because I was stolen by fairies.” This was a sentence Sookie never thought she’d ever say in a million years but that’s what happened when you started hanging out in the Supernatural community.

               “I ran out of the house and straight into Claudine’s arms. Claudine’s supposed to be my fairy godmother. She was that fairy you drained, Eric, when you—“Sookie stopped abruptly when she realized she was going to expose Eric’s amnesia. “When you were staying with me that one time. She and a bunch of other fairies led me into another dimension. There were beautiful trees and mountains and flowers and beautiful people were passing about bowls of fruit that glowed. Just like a fairy tale ought to be. And that’s where I found Barry…and Granddaddy.”

               “Granddaddy?”

               “My grandfather, Earl Stackhouse, disappeared over 20 years ago.” Sookie told them. “But for him it had only been a few hours since he came to fairyland and my fifth birthday was just last week.”

               The vampires were starting to look rather grim too. “Tell me what happened to Barry.” Paolo looked very unhappy.

               “Let me start over from the beginning. We popped into fairyland and I looked around and saw other fairies like Claudine, real full-blooded fairies dressed like they came straight out of a Disney cartoon, all sparkly dresses and jewels and a bunch of people like me, part bloods, who were dressed normal. I didn’t notice at first but some of us Halflings weren’t just in ordinary street clothes. Some were dressed in street clothes that were decades out of date. And that’s when I bumped into Barry and his fairy godfather, Lloyd. We, the Halflings, were really, really giddy and laughing and talking and everyone was eating the glow fruit.” Sookie looked at them. “It was fruit that glowed like lightening bugs glow!  They offered me some but I didn’t take it. It reminded me of something which I didn’t remember until much, much later.”

               “And then what?”

               “Oh, then I spotted Grandpa Earl and went over to talk to him. All the time I was talking to him I kept noticing something out of the corner of my eye. Like something was trying to sneak up on me. I’d turn and nothing was there but I still felt it. That’s when I noticed the fruit was bad. There were maggots crawling on it and people were eating it! I tried to make Barry stop eating it but he'd already ate some. The fairies kept pushing the Halflings to eat more and more of this rotting glow fruit and they tried to make _me_ eat it. But I kept saying ‘no, I don’t want it.’ So Queen Mab ordered these creepy men-things to hold me still. They tried to shove the fruit into my mouth but I wouldn’t eat it. They couldn’t make me eat the goblin fruit! I light blasted Mab into a tree and the illusion broke. Fairyland was an ugly waste and the Halflings started to panic. We were told that we had been ‘harvested’ for Queen Mab’s army. People started getting real upset at that and that’s when this other bunch of fairies attacked. Me and Granddaddy Earl and all the Halflings scattered for the hills. I didn’t see where Barry went.”

               Eric was no longer pretending indifference. “And then what happened?”

               “Claude led us to this huge, fiery pit and told us this was the passage home but only I could go because I didn’t eat the fruit.” Sookie put her head in her hands. “I told Granddad I wasn’t leaving without him so he grabbed me and jumped into the hole just as it was starting to close up.”

               “Your grandfather is still in fairyland with Barry?”

               “No.” Sookie didn’t look up. She was not going to blubber in front of these cold fuckers. “Granddaddy made it back home the same time I did.”

               “What happened?”

               “He was fine for a moment but then he started to change.” Sookie took a deep, deep breath and finished her story. “Static started sparking over his skin and he started desiccating. When a vampire is destroyed they go splat but when a fairy dies they start to turn grey and shrivel up like a mummy. I helped him over to Grandma’s grave and he gave me his pocket watch to pass onto my brother Jason. Then when I was holding him he turned to dust and disappeared. Right there on Grandma’s grave.”

               “How do you know the fruit did this? How do you know that Barry can’t leave either?” Paolo was rather upset.

               “I told you. I remembered later.” Sookie looked borderline weepy. “Goblin fruit! It’s in that poem by Rossetti; you can’t eat or drink fairy food or you never leave fairyland alive. My grandmother used to read Hadley, Jason, and me that poem all the time when we were little!”

               “You expect me to believe in _goblin_ fruit?”

               “Since you believe in goblins and fairies, yes!”

               “I don’t believe it!”

               “Okay, how about Persephone and the pomegranate?”

               Paolo looked angry and Eric put a hand on his shoulder and kept him in his seat. He gave Isabelle a look that said, “Control your ward!”

               “Calm down, Paolo!” Isabelle told him. “How long were you in fairyland, Ms. Stackhouse?”

               “Not long. More than five minutes but less than ten.” Sookie replied and all the vampires looked taken aback at that. “And when I got back more than a year had passed!”

               Paolo was still very angry, “How do you know there’s no way to get Barry back?”

               “I was going to ask Warlow if there was a way to rescue them but he obviously is no longer available.”

               “What of Claude and the other fairies at Hot Wings?”

               Sookie answered. “Niall told me there were no survivors.”

               “So that’s it? You expect me to believe that Barry is gone for good?” Paolo was angry.

               “The only way to get across to Queen Mab's court is to hitch a ride with a full-blood fairy and there aren't any around anymore. I’m sorry. I really am. He was my friend too.” Sookie stood up. “Is there anything else, Eric?”

               “You may leave.”

               Isabelle and Paolo were going to protest but Pam shook her head.              

               Sookie walked out of Eric’s office and through the club and out the door past Tara to her car.  While she was driving home she wondered what would happen if she missed the exit to Bon Temps and kept on going without looking back. She was tired of all this Supernatural bullshit. She was getting out of it. Really, she was.


End file.
